The “Tennessee Three” received applause during Vice President Kamala Harris’ recent speech before the National Action Network’s annual conference in Midtown Manhattan. She also asked the conference’s participants to “stand and protect our democracy” against Republicans.
Less than a year before the New York Democrats’ presidential primary on February 6, Harris utilized her platform to deliver a powerful message to an enthusiastic crowd of Black civil rights leaders and others at the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel. Her speech had all the hallmarks of a 2024 campaign speech.
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The vice president said that the Biden administration has been beneficial for all Americans, particularly Black Americans while condemning Republican attacks on reproductive and voting rights. Harris used the comments of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in asserting that the battle for economic justice was part of the civil rights movement.
Harris outlined the administration’s goals in contributing to a better America, “It is the fight for paid leave and affordable child care, to permanently expand the Child Tax Credit, to cancel student loan debt, to provide access to capital for small business owners and entrepreneurs, to make sure all families can buy a home, and to protect Social Security and Medicare from attack.”
As Vice President Harris recalls recent events which took place in the state of Tennessee. Two Black politicians there were removed from office by Republican legislators after they organized a demonstration in support of gun control laws in response to the shooting murders of six people in Nashville. The two individuals, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson have become known as the “Tennessee Three” together with a third legislator. After a widespread uproar, they were promptly reinstated.
“Seven thousand students and parents continued to organize and march and raise their voices, and now Justin Jones and Justin Pearson are back in their seats,” she said, drawing loud cheers. “The people spoke.”
“Seven thousand students and parents continued to organize and march and raise their voices, and now Justin Jones and Justin Pearson are back in their seats,” She remarked, amid thunderous applause, ” The people spoke”.
In a March survey conducted by Monmouth University, 36% of voters said they approved of Harris, while 53% disapproved. Democrats are significantly more likely to support Harris, with 76 percent of them doing so.
Vice President Kamala Harris’ speech at the National Action Network conference in Midtown Manhattan, according to 88-year-old Upper West Side resident Benita Bobo, inspired her.
Several participants at the NAN conference, which is run by the Rev. Al Sharpton, expressed inspiration from the vice president. Among them was 88-year-old Upper West Side resident Margarita Benita Bobo, who spoke passionately of her family’s history.
“My father was born in 1899 in Mississippi, to teenage parents,” she noted. “He was working at 6 years old at a slaughterhouse. He never forgot where he came from.”
The nation’s first Black and South Asian vice president was commended by Bobo for tackling the issue of gun violence and for supporting abortion rights.
“The biggest thing is freedom,” she remarked. “The freedoms of women to supervise their own bodies, the freedom to vote, the freedom to be a full-class citizen in America. And the freedom to not feel you are in danger.”
“She told it all,” Bobo noted, “and she told the truth. She’s a brilliant, beautiful woman.”
